An Overhead Garage Door Spring

Installing a garage door will require a set of tools!

An Overhead Garage Door Spring

The overhead garage door spring, also known as the torsion spring, is the most essential part of a garage door (and that does not mean the others are non-essential, but .) and taking good care of the overhead spring will keep your garage door in fine form.

Whether you have a manual garage door opener or an automatic one, the primary part which moves the door is the overhead door spring. If you have a manual model and need to crank the door open, it is the spring above the door which is connected to the shaft which in turn is connected to the turning crank. When you turn, the spring coils, and the additional pressure it exerts pulls the shaft backward, opening the door. When you turn the other way, the tension releases, moving the shaft forward; closing the door. In the case of an automatic garage door opener, the motor uses the tension in the overhead garage door spring to move forward and backward by itself, and that is what opens and closes the garage door. Like we explained in another section of this website, it is not the motor in the opener which really opens the door. The motor just channelizes energy from the torsion springs onto the shaft and moves it, opening and closing the door.

You would have heard or read somewhere that replacing an overhead garage door spring is one of the most dangerous things you can do inside your house, and that is correct. Due to the tremendous tension the spring is under, it can simply snap or hit the person who's replacing it. So if something goes wrong with your overhead garage door spring, just call in an expert or a company that comes with the right equipment and uses good safety precautions. The other kind of springs in use by your garage door - extension springs - are a bit easier to replace, provided you read your manual carefully and follow the instructions.

An Overhead Garage Door Spring

The most common metal used in the manufacture of the torsion springs is tempered steel, but in the recent times, a few other stronger alloys also are in use. It is stated that the life cycle of these overhead springs is about 10000 cycles, which means they will last for a long time indeed! Considering that you open and close the garage door twice each day, it is only 700 cycles in a year. So theoretically speaking, the tempered steel overhead spring should last you about 12-13 years!

The best thing you can do for your garage door is to periodically check on the overhead spring. If you have the habit of cleaning out your garage once a month or so (which, by the way, is a great habit), just pay close attention to the overhead spring while closing and opening the garage door. If there's something that doesn't seem right, just attend to it immediately. Will save you a pile of money in the long run! And we repeat - read your garage door manual carefully before you tweak this particular part. Better be safe than sorry!

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